MTR passengers need to be aware of rail risks
Railway company must answer for the shutdown of East Rail services, but those who forced open train doors and walked along the tracks did not help matters
The city’s rail operator has a lot to answer for after yet another serious service breakdown. For some two hours on Thursday, the East Rail ground to a complete halt soon after 9am. Unacceptable as it is, the public may well have to live with the reality that the Mass Transit Railway is experiencing more technical glitches these days.
It would also do well for passengers to know how to better respond in such circumstances, in particular the ones stranded on trains. Escaping via open rail tracks is certainly not advisable.
This was not the first time for the signal system to malfunction, but.the scale of the impact was one of the most serious. Services on the entire East Rail were stopped after attempts to revive the system failed. A total of 14 trains were stranded on the tracks, and cross-border services were also suspended.
Commuters were, not surprisingly, upset, but they had no reason to act out of order. Some passengers stranded on carriages near Fanling and Fo Tan reportedly forced open train doors and walked along the tracks to get to station platforms.
